Beyond Golden Hills
by LostUmbreon
Summary: When Japan creates a virtual reality Pokémon game, the nations are asked to beta test it. What happens when a glitch doesn't allow anybody to leave the game unharmed?
1. Chapter 1

_Chapter 1_

"And that's why I think we should all drink coffee instead of tea!" An obnoxious young adult declared from the head of a long table. His rectangular silver framed glasses covered the blue eyes that scanned the room of other adults and teenagers. When nobody said anything, he sighed and ran a hand through short, honey blond hair, taking care not to touch the cowlick standing up stubbornly; defying gravity. "You guys don't like my idea?" He asked, northern United States accent ringing out in an annoying manner.

"Your ideas don't make any sense," another male spoke up. He was older, his dark blond hair messy and bushy eyebrows taking up nearly half his forehead. This man spoke with a posh English accent and his emerald eyes glared into the American's soul, as if cursing the boy.

Yet another man spoke up, "Alfred Jones, representation of the United States of America, I do reckon that you ain't even had real tea. Real tea ain't that stuff from teabags you buy at the nearest Wal-Mart." He was not as young as the first but not as old as the second who had spoken. He had dirty blond hair cut in a similar fashion to the younger, and a similar cowlick, though his bangs and cowlick were opposite the American. His own blue eyes were several shades darker than Alfred's and his glasses were rounded, not rectangular. His speech was highlighted with a rather prominent southern United States accent. "And I'm pretty sure that all of us nations here would appreciate it if you shut your yap."

"You're not even a nation anymore, why are you here?" Alfred growled, resting his hands on the table.

"Pardon me city boy," the Southerner responded with a smirk.

"'City boy'?" The Northern man snarled, "I bet you couldn't last one day on my turf in the north, Connor Jones, former Confederate States of America and ex-nation that shouldn't even be here!" Elsewhere in the room, an albino snorted at the last part of Alfred's sentence.

"Nor would I want to be. I don't want your Yankee filth on me. I like my pure sunshine, golden wheat fields and meadow larks. Boy you probably inhaled too much pollution if you thought I'd ever make my home in a dirty city where the sunlight is marred by smog." The older replied smoothly.

"That's enough you two," the Englishman cut in before the situation got out of hand.

Childish mutters of "Racist rebel" and "Ignorant Yankee" floated into the room before the pair of brothers quieted down, Alfred taking his seat again.

On this particular day, a world meeting was the event of interest; though the people attending weren't governors or politicians or even the heads of countries. The attendants weren't even people. Sure, they looked like people, but they really weren't. All the attendants in the room save for the maids lined against the walls of the room waiting for any requests, were personified nations. From sea to shining sea, every nation on the planet earth had a personified representative. From the smallest nations like Liechtenstein and Seychelles to the largest nations like Russia and Canada, the beings in the room represented their respective country. Their personalities and appearances based off major stereotypes of that country and that country's people. Even micronations such as Wy and Sealand had personifications.

In order to protect these personifications, each nation had been given a 'human name' to conceal their real identities and blend in with the human species. Arthur Kirkland, the personification of England, growled at the two American brothers. Germany's personification, Ludwig, had had enough of this foolishness for today and dismissed everyone from the meeting, stating a continuation was to take place the next day. Alfred gave a joyful yelp and bolted from the meeting hall. "Stupid…brother…" Connor sighed and got up to follow after his younger sibling reluctantly.

A cheerful voice called out to him, "Hey Connor!" The owner of the voice had bright brown, almost amber, eyes and dark brown hair.

Connor nodded to the personification of Mexico, "Hola Pablo."

"Kiku wanted to see us in the park by the fountain after the meeting. He's already gone there and I assume that's why Alfred sprinted off so enthusiastically." The older nation grinned.

"Is it just the three of us?" Connor inquired.

"No, no, there are several others of us involved in this. Kiku wanted to talk to us about beta testing a new game he's made." Pablo replied, "Now hurry up! Let's not keep him and the others waiting!" He then grabbed Connor's hand and tugged the ex-nation out of a now hardly occupied meeting room to the park.

Once arriving in the sunny park, a large group of the duo's fellow nations were assembled, chatting and catching up with each other on peaceful terms. Connor noticed Arthur was there with his three other brothers who represented Wales, Scotland, and North Ireland. They were Owen Kirkland, a dark brown haired spontaneous individual, Alastair Kirkland, a fiery red haired Scotsman, and Caley Kirkland, a rather reserved freckled light blond Irishman. Their other sibling who represented Ireland was nowhere to be found. Connor and Alfred's younger brother, Matthew Williams, was standing off to the side chatting with Gilbert, Ludwig's older brother. Matthew represented Canada and was a quiet person with soft blond hair and indigo eyes. Gilbert represented Prussia and had a case of albinism; his ruby red eyes, snowy white hair and pale white skin proved it. Ludwig was present as well. His blond hair was slicked back in its usual manner and ocean blue eyes swept over the crowd.

At Ludwig's side was a bright, bouncy Italian; Veniziano Vargas, who represented north Italy. His eyes were closed in their usual manner but when they were open, revealed shining, curious gold-ish eyes. He had auburn hair and a silly curl of hair that branched off his head to his left. Standing beside Veniziano stood his older brother Lovino Vargas, who seemed to be a dark copy of Veniziano. Lovino had much darker auburn hair though his eyes were almost as yellow as a cat's, though paler. Lovino was also a rather big grump and always cursed up a storm, especially around the personification of Spain. Speaking of the devil, Connor noted the Spaniard was standing too close to him for comfort. Connor shivered and shifted closer to Pablo. Antonio Carriedo was Spain's representative, a cheery caramel brown haired man with deep jade green eyes. Connor and Antonio hardly got along and the ex-nation was about to warn Antonio of being too close when a flirtatious blond Frenchman with stubble wandered over and slung an arm over Antonio's shoulder. The Frenchman was none other than France's personification, Francis Bonnefoy. Those were only some of the nations, Connor didn't recognize the others.

A soft call for attention was heard and the group quieted down to turn their attention to a Japanese man with short black hair and glistening brown eyes. "Hello everyone," he started, "I'm glad to see you have all accepted my request to beta test this new game. I have asked all of you individually because you have all expressed a keen liking to the Pokémon games and series." Hushed chattering broke out and the Japanese man waited for them to settle down again. "With the release of our newest Pokémon generation growing old, our programmers have been developing a virtual reality world of Pokémon."

"Cool!" Alfred shouted, "So what do we do, Kiku? Pop on some virtual helmets or what?"

"The glasses, game cartridge and disc I'm about to give you all are to be put in any version of a Nintendo DS and you use the Wireless Connection. Simply put the disc into your DVD player, computer, or laptop and activate the Wireless Connection, then put on your glasses. We've been designing glasses that are comfortable to both those who do and don't wear glasses. Once you put the glasses on and the connection is strong, you all end up in the virtual reality world of Pokémon.

"The first time you enter you'll be in a vast blue-ish green space and you'll be prompted to enter your full name, date of birth, and gender. The game then analyzes you and your personality with a scanner and decides what trainer class you belong in and when you make it through this process, your trainer card will be in your backpack. The system also goes through the several hundred Pokémon in the catalog though we have only programmed it up to Generation Five, the Unova generation. You play through as a normal Pokémon trainer would and you can meet other real players and NPC's in this game. The path you follow depends entirely on your trainer card in the beginning when you first start. There is no changing it and everything is purely by chance and fate." Kiku explained briefly.

The group buzzed with excitement until Kiku raised his hand for silence, "A word of caution, though; the danger is very real. Criminal organizations are a serious threat and some Pokémon attacks are extremely deadly. You won't die in reality, but its game over if your character dies in the game and you'll have to restart."

"So how do we log out? Save the game and continue later?" Somebody spoke out.

"Like most Pokémon games, you'll find a journal in your bag when you want to save and quit, everybody gets a Pokedex regardless of what your trainer class is, a PalPad to register any real life people you meet, and you'll start with 5 Poke Balls, 3 Great Balls, and 1 Ultra Ball, along with your partner Pokémon. Everybody gets a PC card so you can store Pokémon in your PC. As usual, you are only permitted to carry six Pokémon in your active team at a time." Kiku rattled off easily, as if he had everything planned out perfectly.

"And what if somebody steals your PC card and your Pokémon?" Alfred blurted out.

Kiku gave a small look, "Then it is your responsibility as a trainer to get that item and your Pokémon back. We've been working hard to ensure that the Pokémon interact with players as much as they do NPC's. Some of our earlier beta testers have even found that they forget they're in a virtual world, they claim it's like they've been in the Pokémon world their entire life. Which, I'm not sure, may or may not be a dangerous thing; it's hard to tell so early in the game."

After some more questions, answers, and prompting, Kiku handed out the little packages to everyone present, and most departed as the sun began to sink behind the trees. Some stayed behind to chat excitedly about the new game and guessing what partner Pokémon they would get. "Hey, Artie, we should totally travel in a group together in the Pokémon world!" Alfred slung an arm across the British nation's shoulder and the smaller man grunted.

"No thanks, I would much rather travel alone…" Arthur muttered and removed Alfred's arm from his shoulders and backing away. He only ended up bumping into Francis.

"Of course, he would prefer traveling with me instead of you any day," Francis grinned at Alfred, wrapping his arms around Arthur's waist.

"Sod off, frog!" Arthur shouted and elbowed the Frenchman in the gut. Francis gasped at the sudden attack and released Arthur, wrapping his arms around himself. The Englishman snarled, "As if I would ever want to travel with either of you!"

"You wound me, cher…" Francis faked a hurt look and Alfred looked genuinely offended.

"Fine, I'm traveling with my brothers then!" Alfred said childishly.

Connor sent a deadly glare towards his younger brother, "Actually, Al, Gilbert and Pablo and I have decided to travel as a group already."

Alfred frowned, "I would have thought Gilbert would be traveling with Francis and Antonio… Well then, it will be me and Matthew! I'm hearing no excuses, Mattie!"

The Canadian just nodded and gave a soft remark, "We should be headed for the airport now. Our flight leaves in about 3 hours and it takes a while to get to the airport…" The two Americans nodded and bade farewell to the remaining nations. Summoning a taxi and a quick Spanish exchange with the driver, the trio was off.


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2_

Upon arrival back in the good ole United States, the trio walked in comfortable silence to their vehicles. Matthew had the shortest walk, for he had gotten lucky with parking before going to Spain. The youngest brother left with a smile and a wave before headed north towards Toronto, Canada. Connor was the next to locate his vehicle and Alfred climbed into the passenger seat (it wasn't that he couldn't drive, it was that carpooling was good for the economy and the environment! ...but it was mostly because he wasn't a good driver). It was almost 4 in the morning by the time Connor dropped off Alfred in Washington D.C., and nearly 5:30am by the time he reached Richmond, Virginia.

The ex-nation half stumbled into his house and set his suitcase down by the front door, then wandering into the kitchen. The blond nearly tripped over his pet cat and the sleeping creature gave a mew of distress as his tail was stepped on. Connor muttered an apology and the grey tabby just hissed crossly then went to groom out his fluffy tail. "I wouldn't have stepped on your tail if you didn't sleep in stupid places…like the middle of the kitchen floor…" The cat hissed again but got up and bounded down the hallway into the bedroom. "Cats," Connor rolled his eyes before getting a quick bowl of cereal.

* * *

That evening, Alfred called the older brother and babbled on and on for hours about pointless stuff as he usually did. Connor had learned over the decades it was best to put the phone on speaker and continue to putter around the house and take care of chores. Currently Alfred was ranting and venting about his government, and that was one topic the former Confederate actually enjoyed listening to Alfred speak about. "The government is totally getting corrupted!" Alfred wailed through the phone.

"I told you so," Connor smirked.

Alfred whined again, "I know you told me so! Don't even start with that whole Confederacy deal because I know every detail of it!" Connor would have burst out laughing if he didn't have a mouthful of sandwich. "So when did you and our group plan to go online with the beta testing?"

"We're going online sometime around eight, how about you and Matthew?" Connor responded.

"Nine o clock ish," the sunny blond replied.

"Well I have to go now, Al, maybe we'll bump into each other in the game. Bye," and without waiting for a reply, he hung up. Alfred was the kind of person who could go on for hours at a time, even if you said 'bye' multiple times in ten seconds. After cleaning up dinner and making sure his cat had food in his bowl, Connor got up and into the living room. Following the instructions (printed in multiple different languages), the game was soon up and running. And after checking several times to see if everything was the way it was supposed to, Connor checked the time and slipped the glasses for the game on. It took a little bit but soon enough there was nothing but blue-ish green surrounding him in every direction he looked.

A small dial popped up in front of him, prompting for a language. It was just…floating there like a ghost. Connor reached out to tap the box for English and upon pressing 'OK', the popup exploded into little water vapor like pixels. Three more dials popped up, prompting for name, date of birth, and gender, just as Kiku had stated. The Confederate entered the correct, appropriate information, surprised that Kiku hadn't gone with the typical dropdown and select a year.

The boxes each exploded in the same way as the first had and when there were no more boxes remaining, something unseen began to scan him, making that annoying scanning beeping noise. When it had finished it went back to wherever it came from and a new text box popped up in front of him, '_Thank you for the time. We have gone through a list of Pokémon and decided your best match.'_ The space around him faded into black and suddenly there was a bright flash and he found himself standing in a small town. His clothes really hadn't changed, aside from the backpack now slung over his shoulder. There was a blur in the pixilation next to him and suddenly Pablo and Gilbert were by his side.

"Hey! Same time for the record," Gilbert laughed. The older nation was albino, with snowy white hair, pale skin, and bright red eyes. Gilbert was Prussia's representative and was in a similar case to Connor. Both ex-nations could only exist in today's time as long as _somebody_ believed in them.

The dark brown haired male on Connor's other side let out a soft chuckle of his own, "So now that we're here, why don't we figure out what Pokémon we got?"

Right… Now that the Mexican mentioned it, Connor was curious as to what partner Pokémon he had received. He shifted his arm to stretch and it brushed a Poke ball on his belt loop. What did you do again? Press the center button? Virtual reality is quite different from playing the actual games… Despite that, the trio threw the capture devices into the air and three bright white silhouettes appeared in front of them. Gilbert, not paying attention, ended up getting bonked on the head with his Pokémon's Poke ball.

A white mongoose-like creature with red markings here and there and eyes as red as Gilbert's stood in front of the albino; the thing was quite fluffy too. "Cool a Zangoose!" Gilbert laughed and the Pokémon just cocked its head. Gilbert reached to his back pocket where a Pokedex was now placed. After punching a few buttons on the gadget, Gilbert held it up to the Pokémon. '_Zangoose, the Cat Ferret Pokémon. Zangoose usually hunt in groups and have a bitter rivalry with Seviper passed on from generation to generation This Pokémon has extremely sharp claws and these claws are its greatest weapons.' _"Awesome!" Gilbert let his signature laugh echo through the air, "An awesome Pokémon to match the awesome me!"

Connor rolled his eyes and Pablo just gave a snort at the overuse of the word 'awesome'. A little black fox with a fluffy mane and tail trotted over to Pablo, giving him a curious sniff. Pablo knelt down so the Pokémon could hop onto his lap, "So you're my partner, huh?" He laughed, "I guess a Zorua is fitting for me!" He pulled out his own Pokedex, '_Zorua, the Tricky Fox Pokémon. Zorua are mischievous Pokémon and find joy in tricking others. Zorua is a very playful Pokémon and uses illusions to disguise itself._' "So Zorua is a girl," Pablo noted, examining the information on his Pokedex screen. The foxlike Dark-type hopped off her trainer's lap and bounded over to a blue and black puppy-like critter that stood on his hind legs.

Connor sat down on the grass beside Pablo. "I'm actually quite surprised I got a Riolu," the blond commented. Zorua gave the other Pokémon a sniff before standing on her back legs and poking Riolu's nose with a paw. The taller Pokémon stepped back and Zorua landed on all fours again, starting to trot back up to Riolu. Riolu, being bashful, ran away and leaped into Connor's arms, burying himself in his trainer's chest, facing away from Zorua. "Big baby; she's just a girl," Connor chastised softly and pet his partner Pokémon's head. Riolu looked up at him with nervous eyes. "She's just a girl, she ain't nothin' to worry about, okay?"

Riolu gave a tiny nod but continued to snuggle up to his trainer. Pablo let out a grunt of surprise as Zorua head-butted into his chest, "Oof! Well she's already pretty strong for a level 5…"

"Well I see you're finally all here!" An annoyingly familiar voice rang out. The trio looked up and spotted Alfred sitting on a high tree branch, Matthew and Arthur sitting on the bench below it. A brown and tan meerkat looking being with rat-like fangs was coiled up on Arthur's lap – a Patrat. Matthew was holding a brown and tan bear looking Pokémon, Teddiursa. Alfred leaped from the tree and landed easily on his feet (though it wasn't very graceful) and a Riolu leaped from the tree landing at his side. Alfred and his two traveling partners walked over to Gilbert's group. "You got a Riolu too? Oh well that doesn't matter! I'm still going to be the best trainer!" Alfred declared.

Gilbert spat, "In your dreams! You may be the world superpower, Mister United States, but this is a whole new playing field!"

Alfred just stuck his tongue out and his Riolu hopped over cheerfully to Connor's. Connor's Riolu whined a bit and turned away shyly. "Dude your partner is such a timid thing. You'll never get very far as a trainer."

"Who said I was a trainer? I haven't even checked my card yet…" Connor muttered and pulled his backpack off to search for his trainer card. He found out and scanned the blue card quietly.

"So," Matthew prompted almost inaudibly, "What's your trainer class?"

"Breeder," Connor answered and Alfred bit his lip to keep back a fit of giggles. Arthur cast him a glare and Alfred shut up almost immediately.

"That's okay, Matthew is too. Be glad you're not a coordinator," Arthur told the dirty blond ex-nation. "I don't think I could do very well as a trainer," he admitted. After a few more moments, Gilbert and Pablo figured out they were trainers. Just as Alfred was about to declare a Pokémon battle, the bushes rustled and the low leveled Pokémon went to hide behind their trainers.

A towering silver haired man with a scarf stepped out of the bushes. "Ivan," Alfred glowered as his Russian enemy strode over to them confidently.

"Privet, comrades," he greeted with a warm smile, ignoring Alfred's icy acknowledgement. A blue and white Pokémon slithered out after Ivan, coiling up before springing up onto Ivan's arm then slithering up his arm to rest it's head on his massive shoulder. "Your partner Pokémon are well chosen for the most part, I presume? I could not help but hear you all talking about your classes. Alfred should be aware I am Pokémon trainer, da?" His smile was just plain creepy now…

Alfred suppressed a shiver before stepping up boldly to the Russian, "I don't care what you are. Riolu and I are going to kick your fat butt, no matter what the challenge! Your slimy little serpent is going down too!"

The Dratini coiled around Ivan's arm sprang forward and nearly bit Alfred's nose. The American let out a little squeak of terror and stumbled back. Ivan laughed in dark amusement at this and the Dratini curled back around him, "He is a Dragon-type, Alfred. Do not make him mad."

"I'm not afraid of your creepy baby snake thing," Alfred scoffed.

Matthew walked over with his Teddiursa clinging to his head, "I thought Dratini were supposed to be timid and shy…" He reached out to try and let the Dratini catch his scent but the Dragon-type went to try and bite his hand off instead. "And I didn't think they ate meat…"

"Dratini are rare Pokémon," Ivan patted the Canadian's head, "Not much is known about them. They could eat seaweed at the bottom of lakes or they could eat other lake dwelling Pokémon."

"Ivan, I found out what you wanted to know," a heavily accented voice called out. Wang Yao, the personification of China, dropped out of the trees with an Eevee on his shoulder. The tiny furry Pokémon seemed quite content despite practically falling out of a tree.

Alfred huffed but pulled out his Pokedex, "Might as well scan these in…" The others followed suit.

'_Riolu, the Emanation Pokémon. Riolu can sense other living being's auras and emotions after much training. Riolu are usually very energetic and playful Pokémon.'_

'_Dratini, the Dragon Pokémon. Dratini are such rare, elusive Pokémon that they have earned the nickname of the Mirage Pokémon.'_

'_Eevee, the Evolution Pokémon. Eevee's genetic makeup is so unstable that the slightest changes in its environment can affect evolution.'_

"So what did you send Yao out for?" Matthew asked.

"That is our business, Matvey," Ivan replied, "Now all you will do us big favor and stay out of our way." With that, the Russian turned and walked down the path that lead out of town, the much shorter Chinese man trailing after him.

"Hmph," Alfred scowled, "Those two are too shady for their own good… They're up to something… Riolu, return," he recalled his partner and clipped the Poke ball back onto his belt and gave his usual sunny grin.

"You bounce back faster than anyone else I know," Pablo muttered.

"You know it!" Alfred smirked. Something passed between the two as they glared at each other; Alfred looking smug and Pablo looking slightly annoyed.

Pablo let out the faintest of hisses before grabbing Connor's hand, "We're going to train."

"Err…we are?" Connor blinked as he was dragged away. Zorua and Riolu trotted after their trainers, leaving Gilbert with Alfred and his crew.

"The awesome me does not appreciate being left behind," the Prussian pouted.

Matthew chuckled softly, "If you're going to travel with them you should get used to it. One is smitten and dropping hints everywhere but the other is trying his hardest to ignore all the passes."

"But after a while it goes from subtle hints to outright flirting and, ah, one could call it PDA." Arthur pondered for a moment, choosing his words carefully.

Gilbert stared bug eyed, "I mean, the awesome me helped Connor train before the American Revolutionary War and the American Civil War, but he's _bent_? Connor is gay?"

"He's actually bi-asexual," Alfred put in. When he received a funny look he explained further, "He can be attracted to both genders but he only experiences aesthetic, mental, psychological, and any other sort of attraction except sexual."

"It's possible to have a relationship without sexual intimacy?" Gilbert asked stupidly.

"Yes!" the other three males yelled at him. Gilbert held his hands up in surrender then recalled his Zangoose.

"I guess I should go travel with Antonio and Francis, then," Gilbert sighed.

Matthew nodded, "It might be better for them in case they decide to do anything past flirting. Also better for you because Antonio and Francis will be able to keep up with your egotistical demands."

"I guess so," Gilbert shrugged, "The awesome me does need somebody to admire all this Prussian sexiness. Well I'm off!" With a grin and a sloppy salute he charged off, startling all the birds nearby.

"Are you worried about Connor?" Alfred turned to his younger brother after Gilbert had gone.

"I have no reason to be worried. He's an adult, Al." The Canadian replied in his usual soft tone. The American frowned, dissatisfied with the answer. Matthew gave a small sigh, "Is it because your southern neighbor Pablo and his people keep pressing United States borders?"

"That's exactly why! I don't appreciate the drug dealers and the constant push to take Texas… It's even touchier now that Texas wants to secede _again_. I'm upset and fretting over Connor's wellbeing around that Mexican." Alfred spat on the ground crossly, "I have this feeling in my gut Pablo is only using Connor."

"Oh, Alfred, you need to have more faith in your brother than that. Who knows, United States relations with Mexico may improve from this," Arthur shrugged.

Matthew just sighed, "We aren't going to get very far just standing here. Let's go." The other two nodded and their journey into the Pokémon World began anew.

* * *

**AN:/** asdfjkl; sorry for almost a month+ wait Dx

But what do you guys think so far? Which group are you most interested in following in their adventures? Any totally random questions for me? Make them heard! Reviews inspire and encourage me to go on! And before anybody asks, here is a full list of nations I intend to put in this story in some way or another. Press Ctrl + F to quick search!

-United States | Alfred  
-Confederate States | Connor  
-Mexico | Pablo  
-Canada | Matthew  
-S. Italy | Lovino/Romano  
-N. Italy | Veniziano  
-Romania | Vlad  
-Russia | Ivan  
-England | Arthur  
-Scotland | Alastair  
-Wales | Owen  
-N. Ireland | Caley  
-France | Francis  
-Spain | Antonio  
-Prussia | Gilbert  
-Germany | Ludwig  
-Japan | Kiku  
-China | (Wang) Yao  
-Seychelles | Marie  
-Sweden | Berwald  
-Finland | Tino  
-Thailand | Kasem  
-Vietnam | Lien  
-Taiwan | Mei  
-Hong Kong | Li  
-S. Korea | (Im) Yong Soo  
-Bulgaria | Nikola

Until next chapter I bid you adieu!  
Love, Alex


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3_

In another part of the virtual world, a strawberry blond nation with ruby eyes darted from tree branch to tree branch, a small purple bat fluttering after him. Below him, on the forest floor, a light brown haired man with green eyes was chasing after him, "Vlad! Vladimir Dimitri! Get back here this instant! Farfetch'd use Gust!" A small brown bird with a green stalk flew up in front of the ruby eyed man and gave a squall before blowing him out of the tree with powerful flaps of its wings.

"Ugh," the blond commented as he thumped heavily to the ground. It wasn't a very long fall, but that didn't mean it didn't sting like a devil. He sat up rubbing his head and adjusting his hat to be askew atop his head. The brunette approached him darkly and the blond scooted back nervously, "C-come on now Nikola… No hard feelings, right?"

"You better believe there are some hard feelings," the brunette scowled, "Farfetch'd, use Poison Jab!"

"Zubat use Bite then follow up with Leech Life!" Vlad hissed, abnormally long canines reflecting in the light of the setting sun. The blond was the nation representative of Romania, while the brunette was Bulgaria's representation. A purple bat with no eyes flew out from the leafy canopy and attacked Nikola's bird with brute force. The bird screeched in pain as sharp fangs pierced its body and the onion stalk fell out of the bird's grasp. It panicked and flailed around, trying to reach its stalk. "That's enough Zubat, let's go!" Vlad called to the bat and ran off into the growing darkness, the bat fluttering after him easily.

"Farfetch'd…" Nikola watched his partner Pokémon get up and retrieve its stalk, then hopping back over to its trainer, "I'm sorry…" It squawked at him before flapping up clumsily into Nikola's arms.

A new voice spoke, "You too, huh?" From the tall shadows emerged another blond with somewhat messy hair and blazing green eyes. "Don't worry; I'm not here to hurt you. Let me help you out, actually." The freckled blond pulled out a yellow berry from his trainer bag and held it out with an open hand. Cautiously, Nikola walked over and took the berry, feeding it to Farfetch'd. The Pokémon perked right back up after finishing the berry and the blond smiled, "See, he feels much better now that he has his energy back. I'm Owen, by the way. I represent Wales so I don't attend world summits that often." The Welsh nation held out a hand.

"Nikola, Bulgaria's persona," the brunette balanced Farfetch'd in one arm before shaking Owen's hand. "Traveling alone? I thought for sure you'd be traveling with one of your siblings."

He blinked, "Who Alastair and Caley? We don't really get along. Besides, Sentret doesn't like Mareep or Minccino. I would never do anything to cause him discomfort. So anyway, you're after the vampire too?"

"Oh no, Vlad isn't a vampire, but I have some scores to settle with him," Nikola sighed. Owen just nodded and gave a soft grin.

"What do you say we team up to get back at him? I owe him a few well aimed swings as well," the blond offered.

Nikola looked thoughtful before he shrugged, "I don't see why not."

"Let's get started then! Sentret?" Owen called out. A tiny ferret like Pokémon with a bushy tail scurried out from the bushes and cocked its head, "Start tracking the vampire!" Before Nikola could protest, the Welshman turned and grinned at him, "Oh and one more thing, Nikola?"

"Yeah?" the brunette replied.

"Don't let my cute face fool you."

Nikola snorted, "Oh believe me, I won't. I already picked up the feeling of you being nothing more than a devious little brat."

* * *

"Come on, come on! Hurry up you two!" Veniziano chirped, bouncing around ahead of his traveling companions. The Plusle at his side jumped around with him, both radiating absolutely positive energy.

"Please slow down, Italia… It's getting dark and we should consider making a camp for the night," Ludwig sighed. He was honestly becoming tired, which was a rare thing for him. "The sooner we make camp the sooner we can log out and have pasta."

A small blue lion cub-like creature with a four point star shape on its tail gave a little spark, "Shinx!" Veniziano's Plusle hopped over and grabbed the cub's front paws before spinning him around playfully.

Kiku was the last to catch up, panting from the steep climb up the hill. He watched the two electric-types playing and tapped Ludwig's shoulder, "I do not feel it is wise to only have our partners. We all have electric-type partners and it would be terrible if we were to run into a ground- or rock-type Pokémon."

"Well while you two slow pokes were dilly-dallying around, Plusle and I caught a Cherubi!" Veniziano puffed his chest out proudly and gave a bright grin.

The German and Japanese men exchanged shocked glances. Their usually weak-willed, lazy, crybaby Italian ally did something on his own for once? And neither of them had witnessed it?! Kiku didn't let that throw him off for much longer than a minute though, "Yes. Cherubi are very common in these parts. I may have taken the longest but Pikachu and I managed to add Seedot to our team."

"A Seedot? Those are so…meek," Ludwig commented.

"Yes but when they become Shiftry they are very powerful and quick!" The black haired man protested.

"Ve~ Did you add another Pokémon to your team yet?" Veniziano asked, bouncing over to Ludwig.

"Well yes but you'll meet him when the time comes." Ludwig sniffed. The second Poke ball on his belt suddenly burst open and a Croagunk stood slouched at the German's side. The blond sighed, "Never mind."

"Whoa way cool Ludwig!" The auburn gawked at the poison- and fighting-type. He pulled out his Pokedex, "I want to scan in Seedot too, Kiku!" The Japanese man sent out the acorn looking Pokémon as Veniziano scanned in Croagunk.

'_Croagunk, the Toxic Mouth Pokémon. Croagunk has poison in its cheek sacs and fingers. In the wild it only fights for survival and well trained ones can be used to help lower back pains.'_

'_Seedot, the Acorn Pokémon. Seedot look like acorns when hanging from tree branches for a food source. They enjoy surprising those walking under it by dropping down from the branch.'_

'_Shinx, the Flash Pokémon. Its fur sparks when it feels threatened. Shinx can generate sparks and blinding light by moving its muscles.'_

'_Pikachu, the Mouse Pokémon. And the evolved form of Pichu. Pikachu store electricity in the pouches on their cheeks. When they raised their tails to check their surroundings, they may be struck by lightning.'_

"Was it really necessary to scan Shinx and Pikachu?" Ludwig muttered, "Honestly, Italia…"

"Well I want to fill my Pokedex! And if you two want to as well you'd do the same. And you'd scan Cherubi and Plusle!" He pouted and crossed his arms.

"Next time; for now we should focus on sleeping and logging out," Ludwig promised and patted Veniziano's shoulder. The trio then continued puttering around for another half an hour before settling down for the night.

"How strange," Kiku commented, "I can't seem to log out. Tapping the writing utensil to the journal page should bring up a box asking if we want to save and continue or save and log out. Nothing is happening…"

"It seems I'm not the only one with this problem then," Ludwig was tapping his pen to the paper in his journal with similar results to Kiku.

Veniziano wailed, "Does that mean we're stuck in the game?"

"I'm sure we might just have a slow connection in this area. Maybe when we reach the next city we'll be able to log out," the raven haired man sighed and placed the book and pen back into his backpack. "Hopefully this isn't a regional problem or worse."

"Or worse? What could be worse?" Veniziano trembled, scooting closer to Ludwig.

"It could end up that no matter what region we travel to we can't log out. A glitch in the game that prevents log out…such a problem could cause a variety of serious effects on our bodies in the real world from lack of nutrition and rest."

The Italian was shivering and clutching Ludwig's arm tightly now. The blond sighed and pried him off, "That isn't the case, Italia. Kiku had beta testers before this and there was no such problem. Now calm down and get some rest." The Japanese male and the German male then lay down to try and sleep, leaving Veniziano feeling very alone.

"For how long..? Will we be unable to log out until we reach the end of the game..? Erk…a game that doesn't let you log out…"

* * *

**AN:/ **Hello lovely readers! I'm sorry I was gone for so long! I was caught up with final exams since the end of the last chapter, then I was lazy, then I went to Europe for 10 days and gained back some inspiration! My 16th birthday was also July 4th so duh I won't be doing much on my birthday besides eating cake. Also generation 6 has made me hyper to pick this up again! Dude I am so hype for Gen 6. I called dibs on Pokémon X and the fire-type starter so the rest of you can bug off. MINEEE. Ahem...

So this chapter introduces Owen (Wales) and Nikola (Bulgaria) as a new team with Sentret and Farfetch'd as their partners. Seems like Vlad (Romania) and his Zubat were up to no good prior to their teaming up. ;)

This chapter also reunites the Axis Powers as a team with Ludwig (Germany) with a Shinx for his partner and a Croagunk on his team, Kiku (Japan) with Pikachu for his partner and Seedot as a teammate, and last but certainly not least, Veniziano (North Italy) has a Plusle for his partner and Cherubi for a team player.

_**A wild PLOT has appeared!**_

Let me know what you think! Feedback is much appreciated~ Until next chapter

Love, Alex

_P.S. If you're into Warrior cats check out my Warriors/Hetalia crossover fic titled "Cloudstep's Journey", which features your favorite Hetalia characters in the Warriors world~_


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